It should be a time of joyous anticipationthe happiest time in a womans life. But for many women, the joys of pregnancy are clouded by feelings of fear, sadness, and confusion. And unlike postpartum depression, which is widely portrayed in the media and embraced by the medical community, depression during pregnancy has been rarely discussed and often misunderstooduntil now. In this groundbreaking bookthe first to focus exclusively on depression in pregnancyDr. Shaila Kulkarni Misri, a leading reproductive psychiatrist, draws on her twenty-five years of clinical practice and research to offer hope, help, and healingas well as a provocative, myth-shattering examination of a subject that has too long been shrouded in darkness.The numbers are surprising: up to 70 percent of pregnant women experience some degree of depressive symptoms, and of those, 12 percent meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression. Although it is at least as common as postpartum depression, which occurs after a childs birth, pregnancy-related depression is often cloaked in silence, shame, and denial. Pregnancy Blues lifts the veil on this heartbreakingand very treatableillness, examining the key social and biological factors that can come together during pregnancy to create a climate in which depression and anxiety thrive, as well as offering the many effective treatments that are available. Discover: How to recognize the signs and symptoms of depressionand know when to seek help The role of female hormones: why women are more vulnerable to depression than men How depression can hide behind physical complaints, such as back, stomach, or even chest pain The unspoken connection between infertility and depression The antidepressant controversy: the facts on specific drugs, their safetyand when medication is the right choice Breastfeeding and medicationthe risks and benefitsPlus helpful self-tests and resources, information on alternative treatment optionsfrom therapy to acupunctureand much more. A work of daring and compassion, Pregnancy Blues challenges the underlying traditions and beliefs surrounding pregnancy and motherhoodand explores how those misconceptions have led to the drastic underdiagnosis and undertreatment of depression during pregnancy. A must-read for women and those who love them, Pregnancy Blues is at once an extraordinary roadmap to healing and an eye-opening report on a medical issue that no woman can afford to miss.From the Hardcover edition.